Week 13

I already regret complaining about last week's heat.  It is just that I got a little too hot but now I am not hot enough.  I need help.  Really though, I do.  Kelly's family arrives on Wednesday…11 of them!  They are only here for a couple days and they are staying in a hotel so it really shouldn't be a big deal.  The rub is that we like things to be perfect and it is hard to ever be perfect but it is particularly challenging for us in August.  It is hard to explain August but it is not the easiest month to get through.  

I am looking forward to cooking a nice meal and sharing with them the food we grow.  I am also afraid that they won't understand how much that food and what we do with our lives means to us.  It isn't that they aren't great people.  I feel incredibly lucky to genuinely like my in-laws.  It is just that our life is so different than theirs and I am not sure they will appreciate the things that we value about our life.  I am fine with people thinking we are little crazy and in the case of my parents that we work to hard as long as they enjoy the food.  The other day my dad told Kelly that the watermelon he gave him was the best watermelon he had ever eaten.  It made my day.  

I know that the veggies in your box aren't always perfect (although we try) but I hope you are enjoying them and sharing food and meals with people you care about.  Knowing that people are enjoying meals together with food that we grew (along with a lot of help) is one of the things that makes my job great.  I love it when people send me photos of their kids eating veggies or tell me about what they cooked.  Don't worry, I become much less emotional once September arrives…more sleep, less sentimental!  

Enjoy your veggies.  

Arugula 

Rainbow Peppers - you choose, there will be a basket full on the stand.

Kale - Hopefully mixed bunches If you have ever wanted to eat a kale salad but been afraid that it will be all chewy and tough this is your best chance.  The last few years we have given the farm share our first picking off the fall kale.  It has been living under row cover for bug protection and it is very tender.  I will put a couple kale salad recipes at the end but I have a couple general suggestions.  I like to remove most of the rib and slice it thin or chop it and I either massage it or let the dressing sit on it for a little while (it is the first thing I make if I am having it for dinner). 

Cherry Tomato

Slicing Tomato

Cucumber

Melon - I am not sure what awaits us in the melon patch tomorrow.  The Tuscan melons and piel de sapos are close.  

Eggplant - Large Only

Little Gem Lettuce - Large Only
Shiso - Add On Only - This will start on Wednesday and then continue next Monday.  Shiso is a Japanese herb that is in the mint family.  It is sometimes called Japanese basil.  It has an amazing aroma and a distinct flavor that is hard to describe.  You will have green shiso.  It is often served wrapped around sushi and can sometimes be found in rolls.  You can use the leaves like little wraps around rice, grilled chicken skewers or veggies.   When I asked a friend born if Japan if the shiso looked okay she became very excited, laid it on her palm and than clapped her other hand down on it to release the aroma.   Here a few things to look at:  Ume pasta with shiso and nori, shiso wrapped chicken, shiso cocktail, sushi roll with plum and shiso

Kale Salads

Sesame Kale Salad

The following two recipes are similar.  Both have a lemony dressing, bread crumbs and grated cheese.  The second is basically a slightly different rendition of the first with the addition of raisons and walnuts.  Both ways are great, but the first is the simplest.  They both call for Tuscan kale or Lacinato kale but any kale will be fine.

Kale Salad with Bread Crumbs
Kale Salad with Bread Crumbs, Walnuts and Raisons